New implantable device can directly deliver medicines to heart

An international team of researchers have developed a new minimally invasive medical device called Therepi that can be placed directly on diseased heart tissue to continuously deliver required drugs, proteins or stem cells.

The team was led by Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, among others.

The new implantable tool can be sutured onto tissue and is designed to allow localised, refillable and targeted therapy for the heart.